Missed it

There was a man who served in the American Army, and from the beginning of 1974 until almost 1978 he was stationed in Germany. Toward the end of his time there, let’s call it sometime in the last year, he had the opportunity to purchase a new Mercedes Benz 300D sedan for $10,300. He had the money to finance the purchase, but at the last moment he thought to himself, what am I doing? I’m about to pay ten thousand dollars for a car! When I left San Jose, California three years ago, I could have bought any number of nice condominiums for $14,000, and in El Paso, Texas, where I last served, I could have bought a three-bedroom house for $12,000. What am I doing, paying this much for a car?

When he returned home from Germany in December of 1977, he had to buy a car, because he had been driving a used car in Germany that he couldn’t bring back. The same Mercedes Benz 300D that he passed on in Germany was then selling for $21,000 in San Jose! There weren’t any used ones to compare to because the model had just started importing into the States the year before.

Been there, done that — got the tee shirt, wore it out

You gentlemen of maturity (I won’t call you old, but you know who you are) have lived through this so many times in your lives that you are aware of how it works. Let’s transition over to airguns. Say you are interested in a PCP. You want to come over to the dark side, but you know there is more to it than just the gun. There’s also a scope and mounts, plus a way to get air into the gun.

Joltin’ Joe

Let’s look at another guy. We’ll call him Joe. Joe always shops for things based on price. He just heard about airguns and wanted to get into big bores, so he bought a used Benjamin Bulldog for $350. A nice used scope and rings cost him another $40. And he bought a Chinese hand pump off Ebay because it sold for less than $100 After a week of online research he had discovered that the hand pump was the cheapest way to fill his airgun. He laughed when told his friends that he would get his exercise at the range, filling that gun.

Well, Joe goes to the range and starts shooting his new toy. To his surprise, it runs out of air on shot number ten — in the middle of the second magazine, so he has to fill it again. He starts pumping. Fifteen minutes later his heart is pounding and he is out of breath, but the gun is ready to go for 10 more shots. Then it needs air — again! He goes through the pumping drill once more and decides to call it a day. That is the last time Joe ever takes that air rifle out. Joe is done with big bore airguns. In fact, Joe is done with airguns altogether.

The savings?

So Joe saved, let’s see — he paid $350 for the used Bulldog and $98 plus $15 shipping for the pump. And $40 for the scope and rings. There’s probably another $25 in bullets he hasn’t shot yet. That comes to — wait a minute — he’s no longer an airgunner, so he didn’t save anything! He wasted $528 that he now has to try to recoup by selling it to the next guy who’s trying to save money.

Here is the deal. Joe’s Bulldog still works. His no-name pump still works, too. However — I can’t think of a worse way to fill a big bore airgun than with a hand pump! Joe told his friends that if the balloon ever went up and he had to survive, that rifle and pump are all he needs, besides bullets. And, he is right! The thing is — and this is a major point — if the balloon never does go up, Joe’s setup is very poor for a guy who just wants to shoot, which is the reason he bought the gun to begin with. If you are getting into big bore airguns, buy some kind of air tank and carry it with the rifle to the range. Instead of 20 shots, you can shoot 100, and you might just have some fun!

Buy what you want and need

I remember the day Edith and I decided that an 88 cubic foot carbon fiber air tank was the way I should go. It cost over $500 back then. That was serious money for us. The same tank will cost over $700 new today — still very serious, in my world.

Here is the difference between Joe and me. Joe didn’t know what he didn’t know. He thought what he was doing was getting his feet wet in airgunning, but in reality he took a bath!

On the other hand, I was testing dozens of PCP airguns and was always running to the dive shop to get my 3,000 psi aluminum scuba tank refilled. I needed that carbon fiber tank, and indeed, I own two of them today. When I grab one to fill a gun I don’t think about what they cost anymore. I am just glad to own such a wonderful piece of equipment that allows me to do my job so efficiently.

I was in the NECO booth (ballistics software for cartridge reloaders) at the SHOT Show and one of our readers said to me, “When I get what I want I don’t think about the money anymore.” That floored me. Here I was at the SHOT Show, surrounded by expensive firearms, airguns and other accessories, and everything cost money. The most I saw was in the Perazzi booth.

Here are 4 matched Perazzi double-barelled shotguns for sale at one price.

Here is the price.

Don’t try to defend or refute the price of the shotguns. That isn’t the point of today’s report. The point is what I am about to get to.

The point

For the man who wants to experience precharged airguns for the first time, a big bore isn’t the best place to begin — any more than a Ferrari 812 Superfast is the right car for a teenager who has just gotten his license.

What the new driver needs is something reliable, safe and very easy to control, because he still has a whole lotta learnin’ ahead of him. The new airgunner needs pretty much the same thing. That’s why I always look for the best, cheapest and most reliable airguns as starter guns to recommend to new shooters. A guy can have 50 years in firearms and still be a newbie to airguns.

My situation

I want to drill out the pin in the Diana 27 piston that came out of Michael’s rifle. To do it right I need to both hold the piston steady and in the right alignment with the spindle/quill on the drill press. I could hold the piston with clamps attached to the drill press bed. I could even do it with wet rawhide wrapped around the piston and bed and allowed to dry. But little problems like this keep coming up every couple of months for me — some bothersome task that can be done right with the right tools or horribly messed up with the wrong ones.

I went to Ebay and looked at drill press vices. They range from simple used vises that are no more than large clamps, to new vises that move in both axes with some precision. A new Chinese-made vise with a 5-inch jaw costs $60 shipped. A Wilton vise with a 4-inch jaw cost $140 shipped. If I was a machinist I would never consider the Chinese vise, because I know instinctively that it has some play. It has to at that price. Heck — the Wilton may even have a little play. If I want a real machinist’s drill press vise I better find a good used one for a deal or be prepared to spend a lot more money.

But old BB Pelletier don’t need no machinist’s vise, ‘cause old BB ain’t no machinist! What BB needs is something to occasionally hold something tight on his drill press table so he doesn’t screw it up.

Bottom line

In my world there are spring guns, CO2 guns and pneumatics. In the world of spring guns the quality ranges from something that barely operates all the way up to a Whiscombe. I own a Whiscombe. It is my finest spring rifle. But it’s not my best spring rifle. My best spring rifle is a TX200 Mark III from Air Arms. It’s my best because it’s always ready to go and I know what it can do. My Whiscombe has 4 different caliber barrels with a harmonic tuning weight on each barrel that is optimized to one specific pellet traveling at a specific velocity that I control with the interchangeable air transfer ports.

My TX is always ready to go — one caliber, always sighted in for only one specific pellet. My Whiscombe is a testbed. It can be almost whatever I want it to be — providing I spend the time setting it up that way.

And then there’s my Diana 27. It is also a specific caliber and it has many more limitations than the TX, to say nothing of the Whiscombe. But for fun, it is quick and easy and as forgiving as an anvil!

My goal is to obtain things that work the way I want them to, and then use them that way. If I succeed in getting what I want, I don’t think about the money anymore.

Yup, there is quite a bit of back-lash but if you spend a bit of time shimming and adjusting the ways it is quite serviceable. I mounted mine on a piece of plywood that is keyed to my drill press table so I can easily clamp it down.

Its not a Wilton but it holds the work piece a lot more steady than hand-holding it and it is sturdy enough to do some light milling.

If you had it bolted to your drill press table you could do some small milling.

And even if the vise has some slop in the X/Y movement you will get use to it if you use it enough.

There was a guy who worked at the machine shop I work at but is now retired. He could run the heck out of a old lathe. Other people couldn’t hit their dimensions for nothing with that lathe. But old Don sure knew what he was doing with it.

It’s kind of like the artillery hold for some air guns. Same with that old lathe. You had to learn how to hold it to make it work. 😉

When I went to trade school in 1965 most of the equipment was WWII surplus. They were still capable of precision work, some better than others. Learning to take the backlash out was key to making precision cuts on lathes and mills. Every couple of years the instructor would tell us, okay guys, sharpen up some files and get to scrapping. We had to scrape every bit of paint off the machines and then repaint them. The machine shop and machines always looked spiffy. My favorite instructor taught the math classes, geometry, trigonometry, and strength of materials. He was a retired Marine Captain.

Have you ever noticed that the more guns you own, the more expensive ones get less use, compared to the less expensive ones.

Oh you talk about them, and show them to friends, but it isn’t the first one you grab to go to the back yard or range for some fun.

Unless you use it for a specific purpose.
The ~$5000 used Whiscombe, sees less range time than the $600 tx200.

The $2500+ FX sees less time in the field than your $700 Kral.

But if you spend your money on ONE airgun that ticks all the right boxes, its money well spent, and will get lots of use.

But many of us own many airguns of less quality, and few of higher quality.
Would I give up my vintage guns to get the new FX dreamilne thats coming out soon?
No, but i have some lesser, PCP rifles, and a extra powder burner or 2, that may find a new home to fund the dreamline.

Some people drive $100,000+ teslas to work, some drive people drive a ford focus, they both perform the same basic function, but one does it in more comfort and style, but at a higher price.

Another good one. For me,.. be frugal,.. be practical,.. do my homework. If I do that, I find that more often than not, I am happy. Frugal,.. at least in my book,.. does not equate exactly with cheap. For one, it means that I should have more money in my pocket,.. to spend on something I want,.. after,… I have done the other two things.

Thanks to this blog, and B.B.’s shared experience and expertise, most of us know what’s important and also things that are just window dressing. It has been a very educational experience for me, following this blog over the past few years. Like B.B. said, “I didn’t know, what I didn’t know”. But now I see the light…even on the dark side. 😉

-5F actual here. Yup,… live and learn. If one possesses excellent self control, (very) thorough research, hard self assessment and rock solid patience.. those are definitely desired attributes. Problem is,… with the way air gunning is evolving so fast,.. it is hard to keep sorted as to what is what and how much/what is “better” and just how much is just B.S.. Plus,.. “needs” change. Learning stuff can be costly. 😉

(No matter) the hobby,… there is/will be a learning curve and you might as well expect (upfront) that learning curve will have a price. Countermeasure? Have fun, learn and keep things in perspective.

When,.. WHEN,… I have perfected all of that,… I will get back with you ASAP! 😉

I follow a computer technician from Arizona who produces YouTube videos of builds. He has a good philosophy about which product is “better”. He say’s, when asked about it, that there is no right answer to that question because it is subjective. It’s all dependent on an individual’s wants or needs. For example, you may need a .45 caliber Texan to dispatch coyotes, where as, I may only need a .22 breakbarrel or PCP to dispatch sparrows. One is better for one purpose and the other is better for another purpose. Just a thought.

“Better” is better, when “better”, is (actually) better. In other words, very well proven (prior) to launch/release. But, why bother with all that? Just knock out a very aggressive/convincing ad campaign. We must be ever vigil.

You have a very good point too. Yet,… there is constantly “better” being offered in both camps,… be it the dispatching of sparrows,.. or coyotes. 😉

The only time I think about the cost is whether I even have that to spend. 😉

Seriously though, one of the reasons my airgun collection is fairly small is some time back I gave thought to a question I was asked by Gary Barnes. “What are you going to do with this air rifle?” I spent some time thinking on that and still do when I contemplate a new purchase.

First, I decided on the various “slots” I would like to fill in my “collection”. Then I proceeded to fill those “slots”. If I see a “new toy” I want and the “slot” is already filled, I must first empty it so there is room for the new one. This really makes me think. Do I want to empty that slot of the one that is in there?

Now this does not apply to the antique airguns. There are only three rules that apply with these.
1. Do I want it?
2. Do I have the money?
3. Will Kathy kill me?

I work on the “slot” principle as well. I try to buy the best I can afford that will meet my requirements for a particular application and if I can’t get what I think I “need” then I wait until I can. Usually it is one purchase per slot that results in a permanent resident in the gun safe.

The slot principle (limited funds and limited room in the gun safe) helps to curb my airgun acquisition affliction but it is not fool-proof… I have recently created two new slot definitions; one for a light-weight walk-about PCP (aka Gen II Fortitude) and one for a gas-spring break-barrel (aka Sig ASP20). Have it all planned out – neither are available in Canada yet so I have time to make/sell a couple of canoes to fund the purchases.

I’ve always maintained that the cost of the rifle is insignificant (a one time out-lay) by comparison the the cost of feeding it (you gotta love airguns as they are cheap to feed!) – that is the line I use with my accountant (wife) and it has worked so far.

LOL! My Chief Financial Officer usually insists that I sell off some of my toys if I want funds for other toys. I have been fortunate in that she likes my antique airguns as decorations in the great room and even purchased the most expensive one for me for Christmas one year. She has decided that there are enough of them now though.

As of right now all of my “slots” are filled. I could possibly fudge one more for a PCP air pistol, but I am not sure it would see much use with me. I do believe I will be opening up the small caliber PCP air rifle slot in the future. That will depend on how the Talon SS project goes.

I would really like to have a FX Dreamlite. Of course that could also expand into the big bore PCP slot. I could see the TSS and HM1000X finding new homes and a FX Dreamlite with a lot of parts taking their place. We will have to see what the future brings.

I was deliberately trying to avoid looking into the Dreamlite but if you would be willing to give up the TSS and the HM1000X I just have to see what it is all about.

I don’t have a big-bore and because I don’t deer hunt anymore couldn’t justify the costs. Still, I have been having (silly) notions about designing and making an airgun from scratch. If I do decide to get serious about my notes, doodles and sketches it would be for something in the .45 caliber range where there are real challenges to solve – like air supply, shot count and velocity concerns. Just daydreaming for now, might start cutting metal when the weather warms up.

I have been considering a Co2 pistol category (a 22xx that everybody seems to be having fun with) but had forgotten about the PCP target pistol slot until you reminded me – thanks for that (I think).

I would love to see what you could come up with. Without a doubt, it would be a work of art. You seem to excel in anything you (do/have done/practiced) for a long time. Function first. The “form” part you definitely have down.

I want to work on my airguns, my problem is i am obsessive so i need to constantly keep myself in check and never let any one thing start to dominate my life and i have to limit myself to the use of airguns and not let any one aspect of the hobby start taking all my attention and i am afraid this has started and i have to squash it down. To illustrate my point you hit a nerve with the drill press vise and yes the answer to what tool do i need and the answer is all of them because the high precision one is what you are going to use converting all the cheaper good sourced ones you find into perfect job specific jigs and the same things with every sort of clamp and tool. In a previous life i built a shop of sorts wood work mostly.

I am going for the Aspen and i am not so much a nube that i don’t clearly see a scuba tank and a compressor and an FX impact or some such. My issue is i have gone over all the paths i might take thought of them all as variables. Because of this i have limited myself so far to spring piston and rimfire for a number of reasons and though an Aspen .25 is on my radar it will likely be a TR5 first if they are worth it, but the other factors $$ come into play.

The optimum path is always easy to see an FX Impact 700mm and a carbon tank or two and a good compressor & a Sightron or some other scope. We all make choices and moderate our desires.

Lets face it though even the best hand pump is for the majority of users a poor option vs a scuba tank and they cost about the same and i would no more take one into the field than i would ride a bicycle with a floor pump strapped to my back. I hope the Aspen gets competitors because this i believe is the optional path quite a few people will take and i view it as more of a rejection of the inconvenience of PCP and less of a gateway and my hope is the only choices wont just be an Aspen or an FX.

I don’t think making air rifles out of titanium would or will improve them, adding a 3 stage pump at least integrated parts and air reservoirs and used to balance a rifle you bet and the cost is coming down
I know here i am early morning running on true OC i suppose. I do not think the self contained PCP guns will eat into or increase the PCP market nearly as much as the springer market i see it as fulfilling a niche that was overdue and if competing rifles come around at reasonable prices i think it will make the airgun community larger, but it will depend on reliability & serviceability.

I am writing about the .25 caliber Seneca Aspen today and you have given me my direction. I reviewed the .22 caliber Aspen, and I’m not yet finished with that one, but I took it so slowly that I have a very good idea of how to test this one. But what you said about needing a scuba tank and compressor is PERFECT for what I wan to write.

Love reading the Philosophies of Common Sense expressed here – since common sense is no longer common. When fixing things, also do not forget to apply Occam’s Razor to the problem. Approach it with the simplest solution and technique in mind, not the other way around. Sadly, FM has failed to follow his own advice many a time, with the consequences of such failure mercilessly following.

Speaking of choices, the money, getting seriously into airgunning, and so on – very happy you will be writing about the Aspen .25; at this point FM is torn between the Aspen and the SIG ASP20 in .22 – two different rifles, representing two different airgunning philosophies.

Good luck making that choice. You are right — they are completely different rifles. I wouldn’t try to push you either way. But I will keep in mind that you have this decision facing you as I do my test of the .25.

BB,
I am currently at this crossroads. My Shoebox Compressor is leaking and even though they are simple to work on I cannot find my problem. I am considering buying another compressor. But, how much compressor.There are the cheap Chinese compressors, the middle range Chinese compressors like Pyramyd sells, and then the upper crust German made ones that cost a lot. My Shoebox did the job for a long time very satisfactorily but due to my current problems I don’t want to do that again. I know I do not want a cheap Chinese compressor. I like the price of the $1200 -$1500 middle range compressors but will I have to replace it in 5 years? I know the upper crust type compressor will last as long as I want to shoot and still have value when the time comes to sell. I guess I am leaning towards buying an expensive one and being done with it.
David Enoch

I have only owned and used one compressor for as long as 5 years. That one is the Omega Super Charger. It was fine for a couple years, but now needs a rebuild. The design has been upgraded so much that I plan on sending it back for an upgrade and rebuild.

I currently use the Air Venturi compressor. It had about 50 hours of use on it when I got it and I have put several more hours (10-15?) on in the two years I have owned it. It does require periodic maintenance like lubrication and filter changes, but other than that it still works perfectly. I’m very satisfied — plus it fills large tanks faster than the Omega.

Here I am, having bought a Bulldog and a handpump back in 2015 and I still fill it by hand most of the time lol. It was my first PCP too, and still my go too gun for blasting critters. After about 3 years I did buy a tank for when I want to just shoot though.

So after reading the blog back in spring of 2015, I decided to go ahead and get a PCP. Being who I am though, I decided I wanted a Bulldog, something with enough oomph to easily take down a coyote or the like. The gun had just come out, and the full kit from Pyramydair was something like $1200, so of course I didn’t have the cash to shell out for compressor or a tank. So I opted for the $180 Benjamin hand pump.

It’s not what I would call easy to pump after about 2200 PSI, but I’m 6’2″ and 250lbs and still in relatively good shape. I put probably 100 rounds a week through it the first couple of weeks I owned it. Mine gets about 12 good shots per fill, but you can honestly shoot it close to 20 times before you’re out. I still love the bulldog, I’ve since bought a Maximus, a Kalibre gun cricket, a gen 2 Marauder, and a 45 texan. My bulldog is still the first gun I grab most of the time.

I knew what I was getting into when I bought the handpump, and I’ve let some of my smaller friends and cousins try to pump the thing, after about 2k PSI they can barely seem to operate the pump.

Folks, One of the great things about spring/gas ram guns, for the most part, they are ready to go 24/7, they just need some ammo to work. A decent springer is a good baseline to the sport of shooting. If you like tinkering and have some basic machine tool skills too, then entry level co2/PCPs have allot going for them. I really enjoy messing with mine. Perhaps I will be able to own A Rapid Air Weapon or some such some day.Thats more of a status thing,
Beautifully made things can be amazing, but the tools that made them is really the thing that matters to me.
The other nice thing about springers is that while the PCP’s are all tore up, I have something reliable to shoot!
Best, Rob

If the price is right and it looks like it might need a good home, I might buy it. This often includes finding some poor abused baby hanging in a pawn shop. Take it home, scrub the rust off, cold blue it once or twice, replace the seals, lube it and such. Shoot it a few times and put it in the safe. There’s a parade of 1950’s and 1960’s springers, multi-pumps, and CO2 guns lying about that came here that way. Doesn’t necessarily matter if I already have one…or have something almost just like it.

Sometimes I buy one because it fills a need. A .22 Marauder with a decent scope for pests, bunny hunting, or whatever.

Other times I just wanted to try shooting one of those and it was available for a decent price. O.K., so I buy it, shoot it a few times and put it in the safe.

Sometimes I search for years to find some classic that The Great Enabler has raved about. When I find it I start to drool, buy it, drag it home, and, likely as not, tear it all apart and rebuild it because someone wrote a blog about it and I wanted to see if I could do it. Examples, of course, are FWB 124, Diana 27, Crosman Mark I, etc.

All this has lead to two guns safes, a furniture-grade gun cabinet, and overflow into two-door storage cabinets. It’s a good thing my wife doesn’t go into some of those places very often….

Mr. Gaylord:
Nice to see you talking about the costs associated with airgunning. It’s a topic I’ve had more than once with junior shooters and their parents. And a topic I’ve commented about a time or two on this blog.
Hope you had a great time at SHOT. I’ve enjoyed your recent posts from Las Vegas and look forward to more of what’s new and exciting and coming to a store nearby soon (maybe).
Respectfully,
Wm. Schooley

some of you regular readers know that I have shot up a few of these IMPORTANT devices over the years! Lol!
So I finally spent what four typical chronographs would have cost me and bought the LabRADAR. The device has been available for at least four years now and in that time a large lead slug of up to .575 caliber has made a spares cannibalization victim out 3 of them. Before that at least twice that number were invalided to some degree as they served as downrange measuring tools to establish “accurate” drag numbers (BC) for various power level, rifle/pistol and pellet/slug combinations.
My point is that before LabRADAR it made some sense to shoot up consumer chronographs since commercial products were SUPER expensive and really not that much more accurate/repeatable unless you forked over tens of thousands of $,€,or£. So if you (ab)use your chronies like I do and find you are shooting up more than a few of them; I recommend you put off buying another and save up for a LabRADAR. They are accurate (way ACCURATE) and give you 5 velocity points downrange that are super accurate, no concerns about Sunlight variations, skyscreens, lights, critical alignment, distance IN FRONT of muzzle and dropped readings.

When I first got my licence at age 19 I bought a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria Police Interceptor specifically because I like a gas V8 engine that I expected to give decent acceleration.

I was interested in getting a mechanical injection Cummins turbo diesel pickup truck because of some magazines I read that reported 12 second quarter mile times with that engine in and modifications. I skipped it because the truck had a flat bed instead of a pickup bed.

I raced my full size sedan against a Mazda RX-8. Let him catch up to me on the side and then I floored it. He had a head start and I overtook him before coming to the next intersection. I do not know if he took his foot off the accelerator or not before I passed him.

I waited at a stop light for a Porche Boxter that I heard with the engine revving and saw it accelerating before and when the light turned green I floored it and passed ahead of him. it did not sound like he floored the car in the beginning but when I passed by the driver (could not see passed the window who was driving) he step on the accelerator trying to catch up and failed.

I wish I found a 1996 Chevrolet Caprice for sale at the time but I was satisfied with that Ford for the time and on the highway I got up to about 22MPG on some fill ups when I made a trip from Kansas to California. Sometimes I was going fast and sometime I was keeping it around 55-60MPH.

I needed a car to drive and that is what one of the options I wanted when I was in the market for a vehicle.

I think I got a good car for $2400 plus taxes and fees. I still want to get a good manual transmission 4×4 pickup truck.

I need a new pellet gun for hunting rabbit and some pigeons and maybe some other types of birds that might be halal. I want a wood stock that is not walnut and some iron sites and I am thinking about the Beeman R1 or Weihrauch HW80 for a break barrel in .20 or .22 caliber.

The muzzle velocity with heavy pellets makes a PCP look like a good choice but I do not like the need for an external pump or tank to shoot the gun. I am sticking with spring pistons for now. Cock and load and aim and shoot is the format I like. I think a magnum springer has all the penetration power I need for the game I want to take with it within maybe 50 yds.

With a choice between a car and a house I think I would go with a house but being able to travel long distances in a day has its convenience and I am not sure where I want to live at for more than 10 years at the time being. I like guns and the government in my area does not want people to walk around open carrrying and conceal carry is only permitted for people with a licence that you may or may not have. Carrying a gun could result in being locked up even if you do not commit murder or robbery or undue harm onto another person with it.

When I have money I am always thinking about what to spend it on. When I do not have enough money I am waiting to get enough to buy what I want and need.

When I need something, I will get it at any cost. If the cost is too high I don’t need it. My wife on the other jand will get almot anything as long qs the cost is low. 70% off is like a red rag to a bull…